Soul Brother #1
We open with
Luke taking down a drug operation. The guys all shoot at him, the bosses gotta
know they tried. The women who package them are all wearing bikinis for reasons
of…reasons. He let’s them all go, with a message, whoever the idiot is putting
his name on drugs, he’s coming for them. He scares someone selling it on the
streets. OK, this is an interesting premise, let’s see what they do with it.
He walks
across in the street in slow-mo because this show needed that kind of padding,
roll credits
We return to
a guy practising his sermon. He’s telling the world how Luke Cage is not as…
awesome as they’ll shaping him up to be. One man can’t save the community, no
matter how powerful he is. He’s still vulnerable to temptation, something this
season will definitely show.
Remember
Pop’s, the guy who sold the DVDs in season 1 is now selling Luke Cage
merchandise from there, Luke’s abilities have had caused them some issues with
Pops, thanks to the diamondback fight practically destroying the place,
insurance is through the roof and the Landlord is about to double the rent.
There’s a phone app called Harlem’s hero that basically exists to track Luke
wherever he is, being a bit of an icon now… When did this happen again?
Luke
returns, he’s been trying to gain sponsorship to help out here, hence the
branded hoody he’s been wearing but it’s become too big of a target. Because of
the aforementioned rent and insurance issues, they’re gonna have to move shop.
Fish tries to persuade him to take some cash with him, like he did back in
season 1 but he refuses to profit off of misery.
Claire and
Misty are in a physical rehab, I think. Doesn’t really matter, Misty says she’d do it all again but doesn’t really handle pity. For Claire, it’s not about
pity, it’s her life that was saved by Misty, it’s appreciation. Misty asks that
she convince Luke, that as much as he loves the fight, it won’t love him back.
This is fluff, isn’t it?
Oh look,
it’s Shades. He gives a guy a key and they gesture. Misty is quickly out of rehab
and confronts Luke at Pops. He asks Misty for help, but she refuses, saying
she’s out of the game. Once again, this scene is entirely pointless.
Cut to a
club named Ginny’s, where Mariah and Shades are having a meeting, with their
client trying to convince them to invest them in plastics company called
Atreus. He happens to know that they have brilliant tech in development and are
primed for a takeover from a bigger company that would net them a lot of money.
Of course, they’ll have to convince the owner of the company, Mark Higgins, to
sell, which won’t be easy and will require blackmail. This scene goes on for
some time after but nothing of consequence actually happens.
Luke and
Claire are at the Red Rooster having Dinner. She’s talking about profiting off him
too, needing some money if they’re able to move out of her mom’s apartment. If
you’re that broke, maybe not eating out at a fancy restaurant would help.
Claire tells Luke to slow down. No, don’t slow down, we’re at the 18-minute
mark here, 1/3 of the way through the episode, where the main plot is supposed
to be one-and-done, get the hell on with it.
Misty is
drinking, looking at her medal. Luke and Claire are dancing as Shades is
conducting the more scrupulous aspects of Maria’s business, killing the waiter
who insulted him earlier. Yeah, I didn’t mention that. Luke and Claire head
into sexy time until they hear a siren and Luke decides to leave to do hero
work.
Luke has an
informant, Sugar, he was Mariah’s driver in the last season I think but now he
has kids and is just a regular bodyguard. He tells Luke that Mariah is going
legit and selling off her illegal stockpiles. Luke scratches his car, convinced
he’s lying about something, *sigh* He bumps into the preacher from earlier, and
it turns out it’s Luke’s father. Their back and forth is boring, that said Luke
has every right to be mad at his father and not want anything to do with him,
regardless of whether he’s making a genuine effort or not.
Mariah is
interviewing a new hostess for the Club, she’s called her Billie although she’s
actually Stephanie. Mariah tells her to be provocative yet friendly. After a
scene with Bushmaster, our new villain that tells us… He exists, we cut back to
Pops where DW, the guy who sold the DVDs (I’m still catching up on names, it’s
been a while) has a potential lead to the source of the Luke Cage branded drug.
And he was part of the crew Shades hung with back in the day. Thanks to Fish,
they identify someone else as Arturo Gomez III, who might be the El Tercero mentioned
in the initial fight.
Back to the
club, Mairah watches as Billie uses her feminine wiles on Mark Higgins,
providing the blackmail material she wanted. So, Mariah is introduced to her
potential buyers. Arturo Rey (Gomez changed his name) a king of discount
furniture in Washington Heights, using the furniture to smuggle drugs. Next up
the Yardies, lead by Nigel Garrison, who’s a gun runner, next up with have
Dontrell “Cockroach” Hamilton, who was convicted but Scarfe was involved so
they let him go. He runs a dirty casino, which implies money laundering to me.
Shades asks
her to reconsider but she likes the end of risk the deal represents, and now
wants all the shady sh*t off her hands. They all make their pitches, with
Hamilton making probably the best case given Mairah’s history but Luke walks
straight into the club. Comanche tries to stop him but is easily taken out. Luke
is stopped because Claire is in the club because the plot says so.
She used the
Harlem’s Hero App to track him down, I don’t buy this, Luke was in the club for
literally seconds but she used opportunities to take photos of the players in
there. Luke and Claire argue briefly before passions start flaring again. They
really have just run out of ideas for Claire now… Partnering her up with the
one guy who never needs medical attention, not exactly the smart move.
Sugar
contacts Luke with some more information that he has somehow. He tells Luke
about a shipment near the river, but it turns out it’s a setup, as Sugar calls
his mystery client to tell him Luke took the bait. Mariah, in her first scene
that actually means anything, sees Cockroach and hears that his conviction was
quashed thanks to Scarfe’s corruption.
Mariah is
drinking when Shades comes by, she’s drinking for her mother Mabel, she hates
Mabel but it’s her birthday and she’s family so… Shades tries to convince her
to take Cockroach’s deal, where they still have a stake, but he takes control,
but Mariah thinks he’s a lunatic and giving guns to someone who’s stable is
more important. He’s expecting Arturo to settle tonight, even giving him a few
presents upfront to sweeten the deal.
Luke follows
the tip into a van which blown up, naturally this does jack sh*t to Luke Cage,
but he has a backup plan, judas bullets. Whilst they hurt, it doesn’t actually
penetrate his skin. Good bullsh*t bullets are useless now, we can go back to
never seeing them again. DW is filming all this and Luke gives out a cocky as
hell speech that’s inviting the challenge we’ll see later this season. And he
doesn’t use it to denounce the Luke Cage drug.
Misty heads
back to the office, ready to resume the life, especially hearing that as many
as 30 cases were thrown out thanks to Scarfe. Luke walks in with Arturo’s body
and the Judas bullet. The new Captain, Riddenhour demands he works for them but
Luke ain’t having none of it because his ego is growing every minute.
Nigel is
confronted by Bushmaster, who proceeds to tell him he’s soft and weak,
especially doing business with Mariah, a person he’s apparently gunning for. He
takes out Nigel and shows that he too is bulletproof. Back to Luke’s massive
ego that’s suddenly sprung up, he heads to Mariah and tells her about the judas
bullet not working on him, telling her he’ll kill if she dare mention Claire’s
name again.
Damn this
episode is slow paced, scenes seem to drag on forever, but the actual plot and
setup isn’t too bad at all
Rating
6.5/10
Straighten
it out
Claire and
Luke are discussing the incident with the Judas bullet, with Claire suspecting
that the second bath in chemicals may have strengthened his invulnerability.
They decide to test it out, with the press coming to watch thanks to the
Harlem’s Hero App. OK, this stuff just exists to strengthen his ego, so I’m
gonna skip over it. Nike has seen $ in their eyes and Fish is ready to do
business with them. Luke takes photos with his adoring fans and Claire is
immediately worried that there’s something worse than a Judas bullet out there.
I think we’re safe there, there’s nothing worse than a judas bullet, such a
thing doesn’t exist.
Mariah is
not happy to hear about Luke’s newfound power or of Arturo’s arrest, since he
could link back to her. Shades promises to take care of it. Misty is placed on
light duty, which means she can’t get much done. Bushmaster pulls the bullets
out of his body. He’s clearly not as strong as Luke when it comes to being
bulletproof. He finds out about Luke’s egotistical speech from some kids before
heading to Gwen’s.
Lucas Sr
enters Pops so we can get the word spreading about him being Luke’s dad. And it
gets him and Claire into another argument, that I totally side with Luke on by
the way. I get where Claire is coming from but it’s not always a good thing to
let people who have harmed you back into your life, regardless of what their
intentions were. Regardless, trying to force the issue will not solve the
problem, Luke has to want it, and if he doesn’t, that’s ultimately his choice
and his grave to die in if it comes to it.
Misty’s
return to the force runs into another speed-bump when her I suppose replacement,
Nandi, is a dick to her for no reason and she’s told her injury makes people
feel uncomfortable. That robot arm you were promised isn’t coming up, is it?
Sooner rather than later, please. She sneaks in to interrogate Arturo but
before she can get anywhere, the lawyer from Daredevil, Ben Donovan shows up
and thanks to the arrest being made by Luke rather than an officer of the law,
he’s let off on bail. Misty immediately contacts Luke.
Luke knows
that with Arturo too hot to sell to, Mariah is gonna sell to either Nigel or
Cockroach, he doesn’t know that Nigel is already dead and replaced with
Bushmaster. Luke hits the streets, interrogating until he hears about
Cockroach’s baby mother, Drea Powell. Bushmaster talks about how Mariah is
related to the death of his mother and he’s been using a drug called Nightshade
to become bulletproof, but it hurts the more you use it.
He doesn’t
like Luke Cage any more than Mariah, Mariah has the money, but the heart of
Harlem belongs to Luke. He considers Harlem his birthright and needs both of
these things to claim it. Mariah’s having public image problems. Her publicists
suggest she reunites with her daughter, who’s a doctor she hasn’t seen in
years.
Shades pays
a visit to Arturo, and kills him for insulting Mariah, the police soon get wind
of this and Mariah is soon on the scene, using her senses to try and work out
what happened. She tells Luke what she knows and get Misty uses her contacts to
find an address for Drea Powell
Mariah’s
daughter is running an herbal remedy store, when Mariah herself pays a visit.
Much like with Luke and his father, she isn’t taking this at face value given
their past history. It’s perfectly understandable, but Mariah is somewhat more
humble than Lucas Sr was when confronting his son, actually expressing pride in
what she was doing.
Luke finds
that Drea gets beaten by Cockroach, and her son even got some of the injuries
too. She refuses to talk, but a convenient elderly neighbour gives him the
information he needs. Shades tells Mariah about how things went wrong and she’s
furious about it, without it she doesn’t have the money to pay for the plastics
investment. Luke enters the casino and confronts Cockroach but he has some
sawed off shotgun thing that blasts him out of the window.
Luke should
not have been hurt by that but apparently dislocated his shoulder. There’s a
scene with Claire and Fish but I couldn’t care less but she seen gets a call
from Luke re the dislocated shoulder and really. Claire brings the topic back
to the mother and I’m sorry, I’ve already covered my feelings on this and they
haven’t changed. Bushmaster comes to Mariah’s daughter seeking the herbs he
needs for Nightshade, he pays plenty for it, which makes her uncomfortable.
After
establishing shots that go on for far too long, Shades comes with an offer from
another player in the Yardies, it’ll be enough, more or less, to cover the
investment. Mariah’s daughter comes buy, offering the chance Mariah wanted from
her, we find out here her name is Tilda. They’re allowed a moment alone and we
see more of the music, with Comanche trying to get Shades jealous.
So we hear
Lucas Sr give a sermon, that Claire goes to listen to. Bushmaster makes his nightshade
and begins inhaling it, fully healing from the bullet wounds. Cockroach
threatens his wife over being ratted out and the neighbour proceeds to talk to
Luke Cage again. Luke Cage saves the son from being beaten and lays on the hurt
to Cockroach. OK, we need to talk about the music. It’s better music than the
first season offered, that being said, continually interrupting the narrative
to see the band is actually distracting.
Luke stops
laying on the hurt seeing the distress it’s causing the son, and that’s where
the episode draws to a close.
Again, this
episode suffers from bad pacing, and the moral argument Claire is using is a
weak one, and makes me like her character less.
Rating 5/10
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